UNESCO SCIENCE REPORT
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<strong>UNESCO</strong> <strong>SCIENCE</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong><br />
More bridges needed between special zones and the<br />
exterior<br />
Special economic zones date back to 2005, when the<br />
government decided to instigate a favourable regime for<br />
innovative entrepreneurship at the local level. Certain locations<br />
were identified specifically to encourage the development of<br />
new high-tech businesses and high-tech exports.<br />
By 2014, five such zones were in operation in St Petersburg,<br />
Dubna, Zelenograd, Tomsk and the Republic of Tatarstan.<br />
These five zones host a total of 214 organizations. Each one<br />
benefits from a preferential regulatory environment, such<br />
as a zero property tax for the first ten years or other tax<br />
benefits, free customs regimes, preferential leasing terms,<br />
the opportunity to buy plots of land and state investment<br />
in the development of innovation, engineering, transport<br />
and social infrastructure. In order to increase the efficiency<br />
of these policy instruments, particular attention should be<br />
paid to arriving at a critical mass of organizations and to<br />
strengthening linkages between residents and the external<br />
environment.<br />
TRENDS IN INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC<br />
CO-OPERATION<br />
Towards an EU–Russian Federation Common Space of<br />
Education and Science<br />
In recent years, the Russian Federation has made a concerted<br />
effort to integrate the international scientific community<br />
and develop international co-operation in science and<br />
technology. A crucial aspect of this co-operation lies in its<br />
ties with the EU, international organizations and regional<br />
economic associations.<br />
There has been fruitful scientific collaboration with the EU over<br />
the past decade, as confirmed by the extension for another<br />
five years of the Agreement on Co-operation in Science and<br />
Technology between the European Community and the<br />
Russian government in 2014. A roadmap for establishing<br />
the a Common Space of Education and Science is currently<br />
being implemented, involving, inter alia, the stepping up<br />
of collaboration in space research and technologies. The<br />
Agreement for Co-operation between the European Atomic<br />
Energy Community and the Russian government in the field<br />
of controlled nuclear safety (2001) is currently in force. A joint<br />
declaration on the Partnership for Modernization was signed<br />
at the Russian Federation–EU summit in 2010.<br />
The Russian Federation also participates in a number<br />
of European research centres, including the European<br />
Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Switzerland, the<br />
European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in France and European<br />
X-ray Free Electron Laser in Germany. It is a major stakeholder<br />
in several international megascience projects, including the<br />
ongoing construction of both the International Thermonuclear<br />
Experimental Reactor in France and the Facility for Antiproton<br />
and Ion Research in Germany. The Russian Federation also<br />
hosts the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, which<br />
employs over 1 000 researchers from the Russian Federation<br />
and further afield and receives nearly the same number of<br />
temporary foreign visitors each year.<br />
Following fairly active participation in the EU framework<br />
programmes for research and innovation in the past, Russian<br />
research centres and universities are liable to participate<br />
in the EU’s current Horizon 2020 programme (2014–2020),<br />
as members of international consortia. This co-operation is<br />
being co-ordinated by a joint committee; in parallel, joint<br />
working groups have been set up to manage field-specific<br />
joint research calls that are cofinanced by the allied EU and<br />
Russian programmes.<br />
The Russian Federation is also developing bilateral ties with<br />
European countries through international organizations and<br />
projects, such as the UK Science and Innovation Network or<br />
the Russian–French collaboration on climate change.<br />
In 2014, a wide array of activities were set in motion as part<br />
of the Russian–EU Year of Science. These include the launch<br />
of joint projects such as Interact (Arctic research), Supra<br />
(next-generation pilot simulators), Diabimmune (diabetic<br />
and auto-immune illness prophylactics) and Hopsa/Apos<br />
(efficient supercomputing for science and industry) [Ministry<br />
of Education and Science, 2014].<br />
Political tensions are affecting some areas of co-operation<br />
Economic sanctions imposed on the Russian Federation by<br />
the EU in 2014 are limiting co-operation in certain areas, such<br />
as dual-use military technologies, energy-related equipment<br />
and technologies, services related to deep-water exploration<br />
and Arctic or shale oil exploration. The sanctions may<br />
ultimately affect broader scientific co-operation. 17<br />
Over the past 20–25 years, there has also been significant cooperation<br />
with the USA in key areas such as space research,<br />
nuclear energy, ICTs, controlled thermonuclear fusion,<br />
plasma physics and the fundamental properties of matter.<br />
This co-operation has involved leading universities and<br />
research organizations on both sides, including Moscow State<br />
University and Saint Petersburg University, Brookhaven and<br />
Fermi national laboratories and Stanford University. The level<br />
of mutual trust was such that the USA even relied on Russian<br />
spacecraft to transport its astronauts to the International<br />
Space Station after its own space shuttle programme was<br />
wound up in 2011.<br />
17. See: http://europa.eu/newsroom/highlights/special-coverage/eu_sanctions/<br />
index_en.htm#5<br />
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